Damn lazy to blog!!

Yeah buddy!
The title itself says it all...
For more than 60% of the day, I sit in front of my notebook; still, I don't feel like blogging..
Once I login to gtalk or yahoo messenger, I check regularly whether any of my friends are online; still, I can't find time to blog...
Sometimes I do so much of random browsing - one link takes me to other interesting things and so on; but still I don't put an effort to spend a bit of that time towards blogging
There have been so many interesting things happening around me; again, I have been lazy to put them on paper...

Well, this is just an effort to get myself going with blogging again :-)

Cheers
Rakesh

Raise your voice

Ever had a problem with your service provider?

Ever called a customer care, only to be left frustrated?

Ever been charged for a service, not requested?

Here’s my personal experience with HUTCH, the leading mobile service provider in India.

Be it the interesting ads (the dog and the kid were too good) or the one year validity schemes that HUTCH comes up with, I—somehow—have been inclined towards HUTCH, despite its poor network. Over the past one year or so, they have been bugging the customers continuously with irritating SMSs and disturbing automated calls. If this seems to be the issue with every mobile service provider in India, there is another issue that customers are facing these days: ‘Activating a service for free for a month and charging the customer from the 2^nd month onwards, without even informing him’ (Later on, he will be told that it was a fault in their billing system).

Sometime back in Feb, 2007, the caller tunes service was activated on my mobile (I didn’t even know when the service got activated). Accidentally, I happened to check my account balance for two days, back to back. To my surprise, the balance was less by 30, the next day, even when I didn’t call anybody in that single day. Rs 30/-, the monthly charge for caller tunes service, flashed in my mind without further thinking (I had a similar issue sometime back in 2006). I called up the customer care to find out what exactly was happening with my account. Here’s how the conversation went over phone.

Me: Hi, the caller tunes service was activated without my consent.

CC: Sir, as per our records you have sent an SMS asking us to activate the service.

Me: I am 100% sure that I haven’t sent any SMSs; I don’t even give my mobile to any of my friends, and don’t even entertain any calls or SMSs from HUTCH. I just delete SMSs and cut the automated calls from HUTCH.

CC: Sir, there is nothing much that can be done now; we can deactivate the service now, but you won’t get the money back for the service you have already used.

Me: (frustrated badly!!) What sort of behavior is this: activating a service without my consent and charging me for the same?

These arguments went on for about 10 min and suddenly the call got disconnected (still not sure if that was done deliberately or was a problem with the network). I called back and ended up explaining everything again, because it was someone else who picked my call this time. Again, the call got cut (for the second time), leaving me with utter disdain for HUTCH. I wasn’t getting the money back into my account, but my time was getting wasted (it was already past 45min).

Upon coming to the conclusion that customer care is of no use *in this particular scenario*, I wrote the following email to the Nodal Officer, Bangalore and cc’d the email to Nodal officers and Appellate Authorities of other states (find the details at: http://www.hutch.in/contactus/contactus.asp ).

Within 15min (Man!! I didn't expect that fast of a reply), I got a call and the following reply from someone in HUTCH saying that the money will be credited back to my account; there was a technical problem with their billing system and blah blah blah……

Before even doing all this, I thought for a while that let me not have the head-ache of trying to convince them or to argue with them, and simply let go off the money I was charged, which was anyway a paltry amount. But, they did this to me for the 2nd time and I was highly doubtful that it might repeat if I don't react well this time. Moreover, they (the CC) were indirectly claiming that I was lying (it sort of irked me), something that I had no reason to do. I didn’t even expect them to respond at all, but they did and the issue got resolved (eventually, it felt nice:-)). Recently, they activated GPRS and Planet Hutch for free. I had to call them immediately and tell that they should notify me well in advance if they are going to start charging me for the same. As per the following regulation from TRAI, they shouldn't fail in doing so.

http://www.trai.gov.in/PRESSRELEASENO952005.asp

http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:o1W1GemLU14J:www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/directives/10/dir12sep05.pdf+http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/directives/10/dir12sep05.pdf&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in

Few more grievances:

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/unsolicited-ringtones-download-c5482.html

http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?s=91dbbaaba52bc34136ea7fb22105b0f7&showtopic=7914&pid=74484&st=0&#entry74484

If you don’t want hutch to disturb you with unwanted calls or SMSs, type DND (which stands for Do Not Disturb) and send it as SMS to 123. Within 7 days, you will stop getting these unwanted calls and SMSs. They did actually stop sending SMSs and unwanted automated calls. I liked the way they received my complaint. I am still with HUTCH and will be with HUTCH, unless they don't do such things.

Disclaimer: The sole purpose of this post is just to let people know of my experience and nothing else whatsoever.

Ever thought of being this creative??? :-)

Don't break your head thinking of why I posted the following pics on my blog. Haffun lookin at em. The first two are pretty cool n innovative pieces of art:-))














































































































































If you were wondering, yes, those were 8 diff ways to commit suicide.
Disclaimer: Don't try em at home...hahahaahaaaa

How to win friends?

Would you like to make more friends? Would you like to persuade more people to your way of thinking?. Did you ever think of influencing people around you with your interpersonal skills?. If so, here is your chance to know what it really takes to win friends. The author Dale Carnegie, in his book on 'How to win friends and influence people' talks about various aspects dealing with people in our day-to-day life. He comes up with six principles, which are the most sought-after ones.

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.

• Show interest in people because they are most interested in themselves.

• Remember their birthdays, their hobbies, and other important details. People love your company once you start showing interest in them.

  Let me give you a simple example to show that people are most interested in themselves. Lets say, you are in a group photograph. If the photograph is given to you, whose picture do you like to see first? Its obvious – you want to find out how you look in the picture, assuming that your girl friend/boy friend is not present in the picture. :-)
  

2. Smile – its the second best thing you can do with your lips. Now, don't ask me what the first best thing is :-).

• Actions speak louder than words and a smile says, 'I like you. You make me happy. Glad to see you'. There are many such positive facets of a genuine smile.

• Greet others with smile and enthusiasm. No matter which part of the world you go to, smile begets smile.

• Your smile is a messenger of your goodwill. Your smile brightens the lives of all who see it. To someone who has seen a dozen people frown, scowl or turn their faces away, your smile is like the sun breaking through the clouds.

• Smiling can be over the telephone also. You may be irritated by a series of customer care calls, you may even want to shout at them, but you might not do that with a caller, who maintains smile throughout the conversation; at least you would be humble in replying to him. That's the power of smile. :-))

• Why do you think small kids get a lot of attention from elders. Its mainly because of their genuine smile, that brings joy and happiness.

3. Remember that a person's name - to that person - is the sweetest and the most important sound in any language.

• Name sets the individual apart; pronouncing a person's name correctly, gives him the feel of recognition among others.

• The information we are imparting or the request we are making, takes on a special importance when we approach the situation with the name of the individual.

• Nowadays, we greet people casually. We simply say 'hi, how are you? Hi, how do you do?; instead, greet them using their name – say 'hi rakesh, how are you'. It surely makes a difference.

4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

• When in conversation, give your exclusive attention to others.

• Remember that the people you are talking to are a hundred times more interested in themselves and their problems than they are in you and your problems.

• To be an interesting personality, be interested in others, urge others to talk about themselves and their accomplishments.

  Remember that a person's head-ache or stomach-ache means more to him than dengue or bird flue in any part of the world.

5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.

• Find the interests of others and talk about those things.

• If you know nothing of their interests, ask intelligent questions.

• Talking in terms of the other person's interests pays off for both parties.

  Everyone who was ever a guest of Theodore Roosevelt was astonished at the range and diversity of his knowledge. Whether his visitor was an artist, a sportsman or a politician or any other person, the 26^th American President knew what he had to say. Whenever Roosevelt expected a visitor, he sat up late the night before, reading up the subjects in which his guests would be interested in. Are you already thinking of using this trick?? I already thought of doing so. :-)
  

6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely

• People yearn to feel important and appreciated.

• Talk to people about themselves and they will listen for hours.

• Praise others’ strengths and they’ll strive to reinforce your opinion. Remember,
  every human being you meet is superior to you in some way or the other. Let him/her know of it; they will be more than happy to listen to you.
  

If you were patient enough to read till this point, please read few more lines - my intention of coming up with this post.

Human beings learn a lot by doing things. If you desire to master the principles which were mentioned just now, please do something about them. Try to apply these principles at every opportunity you get in your day-to-day life. I am sure you will definitely reap the benefits.